Signal Fire
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I KNOW. I KNOW. Too many stories... Too little updates... But... Just but...
Disclaimer: SO not mine.
Summary: This takes off right after 3.21 - Desire . MerMark friendship... Eventually... MerMark all the way, maybe. :D
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Chapter 2Her vibrating phone shot her from sleeping to being awake to being bewildered all at the same time. She got up from her spot and looked at the hospital bed right after the bed she was occupying and saw a sleeping Mark. She looked at her watch and cursed. She had an hour to get ready for work. And she realized that she was already at work.
"Mark!" she called out.
He mumbled something but didn't open an eye.
"Ugh," Meredith rolled her eyes and took her things. With one last look at Mark, she headed for the locker room showers.
After a quick shower, Meredith emerged from the locker room shower stall and headed for her locker. She stopped in her tracks as she saw Mark sitting on the bench in the middle of the lockers.
"What are you doing here?" she eyed him as she continued her way to her locker and opened it.
"I told you," he brought down his legs that he propped up on the bench. "Dirty Mistresses Club meetings are 24/7."
"You're scary when you're heart-broken, Mark," she told him as she got her beeper from her locker. "You need to go get ready for work."
"Well then you have to come with me," he says stubbornly. "We could go to my office. My stuff are in there."
"I have pre-rounds."
"Well then, I have pre-rounds too."
"Mark!"
"Meredith!" he mimicked.
"You are acting like a child!" she countered.
"I'm just needy," he tells her. "And I'm liking this 24/7 thing."
"Well you wouldn't be liking it once I start tagging along on your dates," she told him.
"Whoever said I go out on dates? I go straight to bed with women, Grey. Mark Sloan don't do dates."
"Then how would you feel if I tagged along with you in the bedroom?" she didn't even put any thought to what she said and the moment she realized what she just said, Mark was already grinning like an idiot.
"I didn't know you were in to threesomes, Grey," he playfully wagged his eyebrows at her.
"Ugh," she rolled her eyes and slammed her locker door shut and headed for the door. "I so do not need this right now."
"Well I didn't need to find out Addison slept with an intern, Grey, sometimes you just lose some," he stood up and followed her out of the locker room.
"Why is McSteamy following you around like a lost puppy?" Christina eyed Mark who was standing behind Meredith with a smug look on his face.
"Grey and I have a pact, we're never leaving each other's side from now on," Mark declared.
"Are you out of your mind?" Christina looked at Meredith.
"He won't leave me alone!" Meredith hissed as she straightened out when she saw Dr. Bailey coming.
"Dr. Sloan? What can I do for you?" Bailey asked as she stopped in front of her interns.
"I'm just tagging along with my new best friend, Dr. Bailey. Don't mind me," Mark pointed towards Meredith.
"As long as you don't distract any of my interns or my patients, fine by me," Bailey eyed Meredith.
"Dr. Bailey," Meredith walked closer to her resident. Mark too walked closer and stuck his self in between the two women. Meredith eyed him and sighed. "Never mind."
"What were you going to say, Grey?" Mark looked at her and crossed his arms across his chest.
"Nothing, Dr. Sloan," Meredith sighed. "Nothing."
She would have just to live with Mark tailing her for the day.
-
"Susan, what are you doing here?" Meredith looked at her 'fake mommy' in surprise.
"Just the hiccups, silly, ain't it?" Susan smiled at her.
Meredith examined Susan as Mark just stood right behind her, looking at her and observing what she was doing. It was clearly bothersome but Meredith did her best to ignore him.
"Ummm," Susan broke the silence. "I think there's someone attached to you, Meredith. Please tell me I'm not just imagining him."
"I'm sorry," Mark flashed out his charming smile and extended his hand towards Susan. "I'm Dr. Sloan, head of plastics."
"And you're here because…" Susan shook his hand and looked at him.
"It seems like I can't pry myself away from Dr. Grey," Mark smirked, giving Meredith a wink.
"Oh," Susan looked confused for a second. "And Dr. Shepherd?"
"We're taki---"
"She dumped him for me," Mark cut her off, grinning widely.
"Don't believe him, Susan," Meredith rolled her eyes.
"So Derek is…"
"Temporarily out of the picture," Meredith answered her.
"Which could lead to being permanently out of the picture now that I'm here," Mark pointed out.
Meredith rolled her eyes. "I swear, Dr. Sloan, if you weren't my boss, I would SO hit you right now."
"You two certainly have the bantering down to an ace," Susan looked at the two of them.
"What can I say," Mark shrugged with a smug smile. "DMC members make the best couples."
"DMC?" Susan pondered.
"Dirty Mistresses Club. Meredith and I are the sole mem-"
"Dr. Sloan!" Bailey suddenly appeared, her hands on her hips. "I thought you wouldn't get in the way of the patients!?"
"Oh, he wasn't really bothering me," Susan politely smiled. "He was actually quite the entertainer."
"That's no excuse, Mrs. Grey," Bailey shook her head in disappointment. "Now, scoot, Dr. Sloan!"
"Definitely the 'Nazi'," Mark muttered, shaking his head as he backed away from Meredith and Susan. "I'll wait for you over there, Grey."
Meredith nodded curtly, as she cautiously watched Dr. Bailey, still looking at her as if ready to bite her any moment.
-
Meredith walked over to where Mark was standing. He followed her as soon as she walked past him.
"Your resident's really scary," Mark muttered.
"That's right," Meredith nodded, stifling a laugh. She stopped in her tracks, making Mark bump into her and stop too. He looked over to what made her stop and saw Derek standing by the nurses counter.
"C'mon, Grey," Mark gently pulled on her arm. He was not about to make her cry all over again. "Not here."
"Just give me a minute, okay? I just need to tell him something," she looked back at him with begging eyes.
"Fine, I'll stand by over there," Mark gives out a sigh and walks over to the farther end of the hall.
Meredith approached Derek and he dropped the patient file he was holding and greeted her. He looked behind her and his eyes narrowed. "What's Mark doing with you?"
Meredith looked back at Mark who was watching them like a hawk and she shrugged.
"You guys are friends now?" Derek asked, raising his eyebrow.
"We've always had this twisted friendship, Derek, you know that."
"No," he shook his head stubbornly. "I didn't know that."
"Well now you know," she told him simply.
"Mark's not someone you should be friends with, Meredith."
"You were friends with him, Derek," she reminded him and then stopped herself. "And who I'm friends with is none of your business."
He didn't say anything anymore but it was evident that he was annoyed.
"Look… Derek… About last night…"
"Mer…"
"Just hear me out, Derek."
He nodded, giving her the chance to speak.
"When I drowned… It was different for me. Stuff happened… Stuff that I can't explain… And I'm trying to make things better and I want to fix this thing between us. Just give me the chance, Derek. Just give me the chance, I'm already doing much better…"
"Mer," he let out a small sigh. "Look, I don't know if now's the right time to fix this thing between us, Meredith. There's a lot of stuff going on… With the race for chief… With everything, Mer. I-I just need time to sort things out."
"Not the right time?" she asked in disbelief.
"Just… We need to take some time apart, Mer. Take a breather," he calmly said.
"Fine," she managed to huffed. Her insides were boiling from anger. How dare he do this to her! She left him in the nurses counter and walked away.
"Are you gonna tell me why you look like you want to kill someone right now?" Mark stalked after him.
"Derek Shepherd," Meredith seethed. "That's the someone I want to kill right now!"
"Woah, Grey," Mark looked around cautiously and immediately led Meredith into a more private area. "It's not a good idea announcing something like that in public."
"I don't really give a fuck, Mark," Meredith spat. "I'd kill him in public if I had to. He's a fucking McBastard!"
"Hey, hey," Mark suddenly enveloped her in his arms, in efforts of calming her down.
She struggled against him. "Let me go!"
"No," Mark stubbornly said.
And for the first time in years, someone didn't let go.
Hold me close cos' I need you to guide me to safety